Erik Prince talks values, defends Blackwater at Tulip Time lunch

Erik Prince told a sold-out Tulip Time lunch crowd that the worth of a warrior is not best defined by his deeds, but by his enemies. The founder of Blackwater and Holland native described his own enemies as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and “noisy leftists.” He said the Holland values of hard work, ...

By PETER DAINING

Holland Sentinel

By PETER DAINING

Posted May. 5, 2010 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 5, 2010 at 5:20 AM

By PETER DAINING

Posted May. 5, 2010 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 5, 2010 at 5:20 AM

Holland, MI

Erik Prince told a sold-out Tulip Time lunch crowd that the worth of a warrior is not best defined by his deeds, but by his enemies.

The founder of Blackwater and Holland native described his own enemies as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and “noisy leftists.”

He said the Holland values of hard work, sacrifice and thriftiness have helped the conservative son of Holland industrialists and philanthropists Ed and Elsa Prince “to fight the good fight and finish the race.”

“That, of course, is the Holland way and it is the only way now,” he said. “It’s up to me to keep those values alive and to pass them to our children and grandchildren.”

Prince didn’t have to look far to find some of those critics, as about 60 people were protesting his visit outside Hope College’s DeVos Fieldhouse. The protesters stayed peaceful, walking on sidewalks circling the Hope College property, even stopping on the way to the venue to check out someone’s organic garden.

Hope College senior and Holland resident Stephanie Dykema said she’s been to the Tulip Time kick-off lunch nearly every year, but decided to join the protesters this time around.

“I came out to take a stand against unjust acts,” she said. “I think Holland is better than welcoming someone who doesn’t value equality and people’s lives.”

Prince apparently has heard from those responding negatively to his visit, because he started out his speech by addressing them.

“They just don’t know me and they don’t know Holland,” he said. “Because this will always be my home.”

The attentive, friendly crowd inside the fieldhouse applauded when Prince described how Blackwater private soldiers rescued Hurricane Katrina victims, saved girls stuck in Kenya and protected U.S. officials in Iraq.

Prince decried Washington and its excessive government spending. He did not mention that Blackwater — now called Xe — was the beneficiary of government contracts worth more than $1 billion, many awarded without competitive bidding.

And according to Rep. Henry Waxman, head of the House committee that investigated the firm, Blackwater employees make about six times more than equivalent military positions, or around $1,222 per day.

Prince also did not talk about how the company came into the national spotlight after Blackwater employees were accused of killing innocent Iraqi civilians.

Even though Tulip Time promotions said he was going to focus on his homegrown values, Prince used much of his half-hour speech to justify Blackwater, the free-market system and privatized military organizations.

But he also addressed his youth, saying he walked in Tulip Time parades every year from fourth grade through high school.

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He went to the Naval Academy, but eventually dropped out; he called the school too liberal.

“As liberal as some universities may be, imagine one run by the federal government,” he said.

He later became a Navy SEAL, calling that the best job he’s ever had. But he left the military in the 1990s after his father died and his wife was dying of cancer.

The idea to open his own military training facility came to him while traveling with the Navy, he said. He opened Blackwater in back country North Carolina.

The company later began hiring former Navy SEALs and special forces from other countries to work security in Iraq. Now, Prince believes such work is key to keeping America strong.

After all, the Roman empire fell because it couldn’t afford to pay its soldiers, he said, criticizing federal spending and the national debt.